Working with technology can cause one to anthropomorphize their devices,
inspiring comments like "I think printers hate me," which is something I uttered
more than a couple of times yesterday. I think one of the problems is I keep
getting these all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine dealies, which suit my
needs, but obviously have more ways to fail. Anyway, over the years my printers
have tended to be cruel to me, and yesterday another went tango uniform, right
as I needed to send a fax (decoding the error message, it was telling me "you're
screwed"), so I am now on my fourth all-in-one in about five years, spanning
three brands and various price points. I think if I suffer another premature
device demise I'll just give up and buy separate a printer and fax. Maybe it's
my fault for overburdening, since we do average about a page a week in printing,
which doesn't even account for the added impact of 10 faxes a year.

I came in here to suggest the Canon MX860, but I see HardCore beat me to it.

Except that it was my Canon MX830 that died, just like the Canon that preceded it. I loved them when they worked, but each died with a similar abruptness, and researching my latest vague error message for solutions just lead to numerous other people with the problem, but no solution. So basically I'm off Canon for now. The other brand I've had trouble with was HP, but I know people who swear by the most recent models.

I ended up getting a pretty full-featured Epson pretty cheap. I like it so far, but I liked the Canons too until they died, so the real test will be if this has any longevity.